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Wednesday, 5 August 2009

One-Dish Wonder

The beauty of a 1-dish meal...

easy to prepare, and super-easy to clean up!

I am blessed with non-fussy eaters at home, they eat whatever meals I lay on the dining table, except for the occasional groans whenever I serve congee or porridge for lunch. I am not shy to say that I take advantage of those forgiving taste buds. Whenever possible, I'll go for simple dinners which need minimum preparation...which also means minimum skills required. That's probably why my culinary skill never seems to improve over the years ^_^

Baked rice happens to be one of our favourite 1-dish meals. However, I try not to turn it into a regular item in our dinner menu. I believe this dish is quite fattening...with the cream and cheese that goes into it!

We had this seafood baked rice the other night. Loaded with fresh prawns, lala (clams), sotong (squids) and fish fillet. I couldn't get salmon, so I had to settle for batang (Spanish Mackerel).

This 1-dish meal did a great job of uniting the savoury flavours of the various seafood ingredients. The rice was full of flavour after soaking up all the natural sweetness from the prawns and clams. It will certainly quench any seafood lover’s appetite...and of course, I love seafood ;')

Heat up a large, deep pan, with some cooking oil. Stir fry minced garlic and add in the seafood ingredients. Add in the mixed vegetables. (Do not cook the seafood till done as it will continue to cook in the oven.)

Add in the cream, stir well. Add in water and bring to a boil. (Note, always add cream BEFORE water, otherwise the mixture may not be smooth.)

Add in the cooked rice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir and let it cook for 1 to 2 mins or until the sauce is almost fully absorbed by the rice.

Place rice into a heatproof baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 220 degC, till the cheese turns golden brown. Sprinkle with some dried parsley. Serve immediately.
Note: ** refers to the rice cup that comes with the rice cooker.

Your baked rice looks delicious-ly packed with seafood & cheese. I am in zero mood to cook today & would be so great if I can have a plate of this rice served to me :D. Btw, do you use the normal Jasmine rice or other types?

Your baked rice looks so delicious with all the seafood! And yes, baked rice is very fattening with all the cream and cheese! :(

Whenever I run out of idea what to prepare/cook for lunch, porridge is the answer! :D However, my kids do not fancy porridge! But, they'll enjoy more if lots of lots of pork floss are sprinkle on top! :D

Hi Blessed Homemaker, fish baked rice is good too! I have tried baked rice with salmon and tomato base sauce, a lot easier than this seafood version ;)

Thanks Jane!

MH, I like to cook porridge for lunch too! but my kids don't really fancy porridge, they prefer noodles. They like pork floss on their porridge too, and sometimes I will also use our heng hwa seaweed as toppings.

wow, it looks so delicious. I told myself I have to lose some weights, kind of so determine that I bought those meal replacement packs... but I think I will start after trying out this baked rice.. hee hee

was at home the last 3 days and had to cook 2 meals a day plus looking after 3 kids...no joke, i must say, so really admire you, can have time to bake/cook, maintain a blog, coach your kids etc...how do you manage to find time to do all these!? i do enjoy cooking for the family but think will bengsan if need to do it every day... anyway, purpose of this message is to say a big thank you to you for sharing the tips to make onigiri. i tried it out, it was really simple and my kids love the pork floss and mayo!this baked rice looks yummy, one question, can i use those nestle canned cream?thksoctopusmum

thks for your prompt reply! another thing, i would like to try out the maki sushi sandwich since i have all the ingredients. would like to clarify if the rice vinegar is the normal chinese rice vinegar or must it be those japanese sushi rice vinegar?thksoctopusmum

Hi octopusmum, please use Japanese Sushi rice vinegar, it is different from the chinese rice vinegar. Do note that Japanese Rice Vinegar does not have sugar added, whereas Japanese Sushi Rice Vinegar has sugar in it. So do take note which one you get. If you get the Japanese Rice Vinegar, you will need to add sugar.

Hi CY, for a chicken baked rice, you can refer to my other recipe "Chicken & Mushroom Baked Rice" under the category "Simple Dishes'. Hope this helps.

Say, HHB, did you get to work on your blueberry chiffon cake? :-).... I tried to do a peach chiffon yesterday - turned out funny, cake looks good when I unmolded it but there were big air pockets inside. Am suspecting that peaches may contain certain enzymes that destabilise the egg white, will try the recipe again but will do something to kill the enzyme.

Your blog is simply delicious ... a pleasure for the senses, with permission I it add rapidly to my list of favorites.A greeting fondly from Spain and please disculple my English;)Raquel from TratadeCocinaR

Hi HHB, do you think milk can replace the cream in the recipe? cream just gives everything a taste too rich for my liking. heh actually this is what i always wonder when i see cream being called for in bread puddings etc as well :P

Hi Anonymous, I am not sure about replacing cream with milk...it may not go well...it probably also depends on the type of milk you are using. I have tried using milk to replace cream when making cream sauce for pasta, the taste was not as good.

I was just wondering, would it be ok to use creamy white sauce (like the Dolmio's or Ragu) instead of cream, do you think? I'd like to attempt this recipe and don't always have cream on hand (I'm a lazy one, I know).

Hi Fai, unless you like the taste of those creamy white sauce, otherwise I would suggest that you stick to cream. I am not sure whether you can get those Nestle cream that comes in a can? You can use that instead, it contains less fat too. It doesnt need refrigeration so I always keep a few in my cupboard to stand-by.

Thks for sharing this delicious recipe! My kids were simply delighted with tonite's dinner - my son excitedly exclaimed tht ".. it looks just like the ones served in restaurants! And more importantly - it taste so good, too!" Here is a pic of wht my seafood baked rice looks like - http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii13/sspaks64/seafoodbakedrice-1.jpg

Hi Anonymous, the heavy cream is added to give it the dish a rich and creamy taste. If your microwave comes with a baking function, then you can use it to make this dish.

Hi Angerlic, thanks for your commnts. Mozzarella cheese is milder in taste and is softer, and melts easily in the oven, and has a stretchy texture. Cheddar cheese is sharper in flavour and will not melt as easily. Unless your microwave comes with the baking function, you will need an oven to make this dish. Hope this helps.

Hi HHB, I'm so glad I chanced upon ur recipe today. I cooked cheese baked rice in the past but could never get the rice to stick together. So was I glad that I saw your trick ie fry the rice with the cream sauce to absorb the creaminess. Just in the nick of time as I was waiting for the rice to cok while I made a last min attempt to google for 'how to make the rice stick' in baked rice. My family loved the result so thanks! Michelle